5 Keys To Staying Healthy

Health doesn’t need to be complicated – you can open the door to your vital self with The 5 Keys To Staying Healthy. These 5 Keys are based on core principles about health and vitality that I have developed during 40 years of preventive medical practice. These principles include:

Focus On Staying Healthy

Work to improve your health consistently, not just react when you become ill.

How We Look and Feel Is Primarily Based On How We Live

Take personal responsibility! Our habits and behavior contribute to almost every health outcome we experience, for better or for worse.

Lifestyle First, Natural Therapies Next, Drugs or Surgery Last

These are the guidelines that I follow and recommend for my patients. I suggest them for you as well!

Your health starts with you! I invite you to use these 5 Keys to identify what challenges you face in achieving optimal health. As you probe each area, you will discover that you actually have knowledge of (and command over) many important areas of your life such as what you eat, how you manage stress and whether you exercise or not. You cannot simply count on your doctors and other health practitioners to point these issues out to you.

Nutrition

Food brings pleasure and sustenance, but it can influence our health in both positive and negative ways! A balanced diet where we obtain all of our essential nutrients is required for good health, while at the same time, avoiding toxins in our foods and environment is crucial. In my practice, I’ve discovered that one of the best routes to begin steps toward optimal health is a natural cleansing and detoxification program. When we expose our cells to more toxins than our body can readily eliminate, our cellular and tissue functions may be undermined and, over time, this can lead to many acute and chronic symptoms as well as a myriad of diseases.

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Exercise

A consistent and balanced exercise program is crucial to staying healthy! We are born to move; every cell in our body needs physical activity to keep us fit and fully functional. Exercise can be as elaborate as fitness training or as simple as walking 30 minutes a day, but the best program is THE ONE YOU WILL ACTUALLY DO. Make it fun and remember that if you aren’t already exercising regularly, get a physical exam before you begin.

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Stress

Stress is often due to our perception that we don’t have enough resources to handle a problem or situation. It expresses itself physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, or as a product of a toxic environment. Learning about how you react to stress and finding ways to cope are the keys to managing it – responding to life’s issues rather than react is a good place to start. Take the time to discover what works best for you and you will forever reap the rewards of a more peaceful life.

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Sleep

Some research indicates that more than 35% of American adults are sleep-deprived, a very dangerous condition that can lead to all kinds of health issues such as diminished cognitive skills, poor thinking, anxiety and reduced work performance. Many factors affect our sleep patterns – eating excessively, drinking caffeinated beverages, or consuming alcohol before bed may make it hard to sleep well. Try to align with natural sleep as much as possible by lowering your stimulants, improving your exercise, eating well and lowering electronic exposures later in the day.

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Attitude

Attitude is the 5th Key to staying healthy, but it could easily be the first! Our attitudes influence our lifestyle choices and directly affect our health. Are your own attitudes positive and encouraging, or negative and undermining? One of my mottos is, “This is the only body I have and I am going to treat it with love.” I realize from my own experience that shifting attitudes and behaviors is not easy; it may mean challenging and changing some of our core beliefs that we have maintained for decades. Research shows that attitude change is often necessary before making any behavior changes that last – that’s why this could be considered the primary Key, the place to start.

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10 Tips for Healthy Detox

Detoxification has been a core healing principle and practice for me since I did my first cleanse in 1975. I believe it is the missing link in modern healthcare and nutritional medicine, and my book The Detox Diet tells you everything you need to know to get started.

Seasonal transitions, from Summer to Autumn for instance, are a particularly good time to consider giving our body a break from old habits so we can readjust and realign.

Here are my simple 10 Detox Tips:

1. Follow a non-toxic lifestyle. Eat wholesome, natural foods, drink plenty of good quality spring water or filtered water (8-10 glasses a day), exercise regularly, and avoid junk foods and additives in order to minimize the need to detoxify.

2. If you feel toxic or congested — with aches and pains, allergies and sinus congestion, sluggish digestion, or skin rashes for example — you might consider a detoxification program as a first step toward healing.

3. If you have habits to any of the SNACCs (Sugar, Nicotine, Alcohol, Caffeine, or Chemicals) take a break occasionally to evaluate how you really feel without them. These short breaks can give you a new perspective. Is your habit an easy pleasure, or is your body paying a price?

4. Detoxify your body and life in a way that feels right to you, through a combination of diet changes, juice cleansing, and supplements. Challenge yourself a little, but avoid the attitude, “No pain, No gain.” The idea is to take extra good care of yourself with the new attitude of “I love myself and care for my body in loving ways.”

5. Create the time and space to detoxify successfully. You may want to do a weekend fast. You might also consider a seasonal approach, like a 7-10 day Spring or Autumn Cleanse. In either case, starting on a Friday gives you the weekend to transition in and out of your program.

6. My favorite cleanses are:

The Master Cleanser – a lemonade diet described in the Spring Cleansing section of my book Staying Healthy with the Seasons.

Fresh Vegetable Juices and broths, with added Spirulina, Chlorella or other blue-green algae.

The Detox Diet – a very smooth and easy way to take a needed cleansing break with three meals daily as described in my book.

7. Plan to include regular exercise in your life and create a balanced schedule of activity and rest, work and play. Take the opportunity to be outside, spend some time walking in the trees, by the ocean or along a river. In the city, watch the sky to stay connected to Nature. Do not forget to relate to flowers, birds, and other natural life forms.

8. Enjoy saunas, sweats, showers, and skin brushing to help detoxify. The skin is our largest and least appreciated organ of elimination and these activities help cleanse our tissues and give us energy.

9. Make sure you keep your digestive tract cleansed. Have a bowel movement at least once or twice daily, using fibers, magnesium, herbs like aloe vera, saltwater flushes, enemas, or colon hydrotherapy. These can all be helpful in experiencing healthy cleansing. This is a very personal issue, but necessary for experiencing vibrant health.

10. Be positive and drop at least one old habit this month. Even a change as simple as giving up wheat or dairy products, sugar or caffeine, could make a big difference in your health. Embrace the possibility for improved health when you focus on changing your lifestyle habits.

Supplements and Herbs—as needed, support the body and its organs: e.g. for the adrenals use vitamins B and C; plus benefit from herbs like licorice root, ashwaganda, and Siberian ginseng; or support for liver through body detoxification (giving the liver a little rest) along with various nutritional products, such as alpha-lipoic acid or milk thistle herb containing silymarin.

Exercise—Regular physical activity offers a great program for stress reduction. There are also many valued “internal exercises” as tai chi and qigong.

Social support—with a listening, caring friend or family member; with more significant issues, a licensed therapist or counselor could be helpful.

Behavior Modification—learn how to replace undesirable behaviors with more desirable ones through positive or negative reinforcement. Similarly with your thoughts – practice rethinking—seeing a challenging situation differently and visualizing the desired outcome.

Attitude—How do you look at life? Make positive changes to support your mood and energy level.

Meditation—deep breathing aids relaxation and stress reduction programs/methods such as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Prayer—as with meditation, tune into what’s right and best for all; as your belief in any higher power. The main prayer might be, “Thy will be done through me.”

Laugh—watch a funny movie or TV show. Your sense of humor is a great stress reducer.

Connect with Nature—take a short walk – fresh air, trees and water can help us calm down and rebalance.